Embarking on Memories
by Prismatic Color
Summary: They were legends, One was sacrificed, the other found, but only a shadow of his former self, but what happened to the third?    Very mild language and no romance, rated only to be safe.
1. Confusion

Chapter 1: Confusion

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Disclaimer: I do not own Rockman. Therefore I do not own any characters in the story. The theories that tie the X series to this series later in the Fic are my own however, and, if asked nicely, I may let you borrow them without complaint. But for now, I suggest you just read and enjoy the story Now let the Fanfiction begin!

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*Thud!*

Zero's fist slammed into the rock. The strength behind it fueled by the pain and sorrow and anguish he forced himself to keep bottled up. But this was much more heavily based on the things he _couldn't_ have helped.

*Thud!*

_Why?_ He snarled silently.

_He's gone now.. GONE! He won't come back, he can't!_

*Thud!*

"Because of that madman," logic told him, "because of Weil."

_He was so sacrificial, so stubborn… why do I get to live, someone who isn't even sure who he is, and he die? A Savior to reploids and humanity alike!_

*Thud!*

"Why won't he just die?"

_Why did he do it!? For ME!? I might not even be Zero.. My heart is the same he said, but a person's memories make them who they are…. I don't have those memories! How can I be Zero without Zero's memories!?_

*Thud!*

"He's not a human anymore. It's your job to kill him."

_If I where truly Zero, I wouldn't have let him die. It's my fault, and only a person like him could forgive me for it._

*Thud!*

"Why is everything my job now?"

_Even he shouldn't forgive me.. I let him die… I just laid there, not thinking about what it would mean for him to protect me and his children, I'm not the Zero who was his friend…_

_*Thud!*_

"Because you are Zero."

_I COULDN'T BE!_

*THUD!*

Zero's fist drove deep into the abused stone, finally shattering it into a group of smaller stones… the same size as the fist that broke them away from their brethren. A Long low howl resounded throughout the area, it took a moment for Zero to realize it was his own. Whether it was in mourning or frustration was anyone's guess, even his own..

He stood there… breathed hard for a moment, and just let the bright sun - so uncharacteristic for his mood— warm his pained features. There was a small shuffling sound behind him, as though someone had kicked a pebble.

"Zero?" A small timid voice spoke up.

"Now's not really a good time, Ciel," He responded without looking, still absorbed in his world of regret.

"I'm not Ciel," the voice said.

"Either way Alouette," It looked like he had something he needed to take care of, Zero sighed, composed his features, and finally turned around, "…it's still not a good time."

"It's never a good time with you. Anyway, are you done beating up inanimate objects yet?" Well, she sure seemed in high spirits, which made one of them.

"No."

"Oh, too bad. Fefnir wants a sparring session. He wanted me to find you." Alouette giggled, her cute face scrunching up in an endearing way. Zero realized he should act a little more social. It wouldn't do any good for the rest of the Resistance's morale for him to be melancholy.

"Already? He only got out of maintenance a day ago."

Alouette shrugged, "You know how Fefnir is."

Zero smirked ruefully; it couldn't hurt to smile a little, could it? "Never stays down, but fights till he's immobile."

"Yep."

Zero sighed and started to walk towards the resistance base, his mourning would have to wait until later. Anyone but the little reploid girl who would have been watching would be highly unnerved after such a long disappearance. "Well, I wouldn't want to deprive Fefnir of a sound and embarrassing defeat."

"Again," Alouette giggled trotting alongside him.

"Again," Zero nodded, there he was back in character again… now to keep it up, "let's just hope I don't put him back into the Maintenance Room."

"Not with what happened last time."

"Mm-hmm."

"He does have a trick up his sleeve this time."

Zero raised an eyebrow at the reploid girl questioningly; maybe his afternoon wouldn't be so difficult. He had only seen an arduous day of keeping up the charade that he was fine.

Alouette caught his look and shook her head, still smiling. "Sorry Zero, I promised not to tell."

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_Shortly following in the maintenance room_…

"Dang it Zero, Why'd you have to put me back in here?" Whined the red former guardian.

"You started it." Zero looked sharply at Fefnir from his position where he was leaning against the wall.

"He's right you know," commented the emerald green reploid by the door, "Besides, you don't know when to quit."

"You did ask for it," said Ciel from beside the status monitor.

"You know I hate being in here!" grumbled Fefnir.

"Fefnir," Zero sighed, "If you want to stay out of the maintenance room, stop trying to pick a fight with me."

"You'd pick a fight with yourself if I wasn't here to spar with." Retorted the former guardian, grasping at straws for a quick, witty comeback… "Heck, technically you already did that." … and failing miserably.

"What are you talking about?" This was a bad path to go down.. Zero could EASILY see that, so Zero decided tohave fun turning it around. He decided to tease him."Wait, you're just babbling to yourself again, aren't you?"

"Hey," snorted Fefnir indignantly, "I do _not_ 'babble.'"

Zero raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Seems as thought that's what you were doing just now."

"I was not! I was thinking out loud about when you killed Omega." Fefnir seemed to be having a tough time hiding his verbal blunder….

"Why were you thinking about that?" asked Harpuia.

Fefnir glanced in his sibling's direction, then turned back to Zero. He wasn't going to be made the butt of a joke like this again, "I didn't say anything about it then because I—_we_ were asked not to, but now I do believe I will ask. What was wrong with Master X? Why the hell was he a cyber elf?"

Zero gazed levelly at Fefnir and replied, "If you did not already know why, then I will not tell you now because you will have neither the mental, nor the physical strength to deal with it."

"But I _am_ strong enough to deal with it!"

"You had to use subtanks during the spar. I'd think that the fact you _needed_ to use them was rather sad," Zero said calmly, maybe he could still keep things under control...

"I can't believe you have the nerve to call me weak to my face and still have the audacity to—"

"Fefnir! Shut up!" snarled Harpuia, "Do you ever think before you speak?"

"You're one to talk Sage!" Fefnir glared at the former guardian of wind, "I seem to recall you wanting to ask what I just did."

"Don't push it."

"I believe you were, pardon me, _are_ just too chicken to talk about it."

Harpuia's eyes glinted, the emerald color taking on a dark sheen, "I _said_. Don't. Push. It." He heavily emphasized the last of his words.

"Yeah?" continued Fefnir, oblivious to Harpuia's growing irritation. "Well it's true."

Thunder rolled outside. It was a sign of Harpuia's effort to keep his feelings in check. However, a thunderstorm could only work so long before something snapped.

In the far back area of his mind, Sage almost wondered why he was getting so upset for something so small and insignificant.

"Ooh! Harpy is getting mad! Just listen to that storm outside!" Fefnir laughed.

"_Never_ call me 'Harpy,' Fefnir," Harpuia clenched a fist and the slightest amount of electricity flared off from it. It was his trademark light pink.

"What, are you gonna hurt a downed soldier?" asked Fefnir, finally noticing the reaction he was getting from Harpuia, "That's low birdie. Heh, but I guess that's how all you _girls_ fight now isn't it?"

Harpuia growled and Zero looked up with an irritated glare.

_If looks could kill…_Thought Ciel as she stared at the trio of reploids. She turned her attention back to the monitor. _Well, as long as it doesn't get violent…_

Fefnir snorted, "What's wrong ladies? Am I bothering you?"

"Fighting Fefnir," began Sage in a menacing tone, "do you have a death wish?"

"No Miss, But who's this cute little girl that's asking?"

Harpuia snarled and a much larger and more visible electric current flared off his body.

"Good grief Harpuia, calm down," Zero said sparing the former guardian a glance, "He's always like this after losing a fight. I thought you knew that. It's best just to leave him alone."

"Well, at least I'm not some screechy little pigeon who thinks he's all that and a bag of chips."

Harpuia's body flared in to an impressive light show with little pink lightning bolts flashing all over his arms, torso, and legs. That was the last straw.

Screeching a battle cry, Harpuia lunged at Fefnir, electricity flaring from the hand that was stretched out to tear at the former guardian of flames. Fefnir, who had predicted what would happen, reached out and grabbed Sage's outstretched arm.

Without missing a beat, Fefnir whirled Sage over his head and sent him hurtling at the wall. Unfortunately the place in the wall that Fefnir had sent Harpuia flying was right at the monitoring equipment. Ciel cried out when she saw the hyper-electrically charged Reploid flying right at her.

"Ciel!" Zero gasped in horror. He let things go too far without his intervention! No, he couldn't lose someone in such a trivial manner! In desperation, the crimson warrior dove at Ciel, roughly shoving her out of harm's way less than a split second before Harpuia reached her.

_*Crash*_

Harpuia slammed into Zero. Immediately, Sage's internal systems fiercely unloaded massive amounts of electricity into Zero in an attempt to shut down the threat's systems.

Even being as strong as he was, Zero was unable to completely hold back the screech of agony at the massive surges of electricity coursing through his body. It would take _much_ less than a tenth of this to electrocute a human. But it was much better him than Ciel… but….

Harpuia realized what was going on almost instantly. At this, he immediately deactivated the reflex, and stood up in a horrified denial at his previous act.

Yet even after the flow of electricity was stopped, Zero did not rise. Instead, the crimson warrior writhed on the floor with his hands clench so hard on the sides of his helmet that, had it not been crafted of an extremely resilient alloy, would have surely shattered under the stress. Words came flying from Zero's mouth that sounded suspiciously like he was talking with someone, raging at them, and begging them to forgive him, but they came too fast and too numerous to dwell on any one for an extended period of time.

"What the hell is he babbling on about?" Said Fefnir with a trace of panic in his voice, but no one answered.

"Harpuia! Stand aside!" Cerveau cried out rushing to Zero and slipping syringe between his armor and helmet.

The reploids convulsions lessened and the screaming died down. "X…..?" he murmured with a sigh.

Unnoticed by everyone Harpuia shuddered and silently left the Maintenance room, feeling the crushing weight of guilt settle on his shoulders.

"Oh, Zero. I'm so sorry…

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_Author's Notes:_

Phew, It's finally done. Okay not quite, I still have to do the author's note… and the next chapters… but those will eventually be finished, so I'm still pleased

Firstly I want to thank SubZeroChimera for beta reading, especially since she claimed she was tired and still did a magnificent job. Also for encouraging me through losing my notebook with this story, taking at least three months to write it… well you get the idea. Without her it would still be just some scribbles on paper. Many thanks for cooperating with my guidelines for _editing_ too.

Next I would like to thank my older sister, whom you may know as ImaginationInterpreter. For without her I would have never heard of (or at least not known them as well as I do now) these; , Rockman Zero, and many of my favorite stories.

Okay, now some of you may be like, "How did Fefnir grab Harpuia without electrocuting himself?"

That's for me to know, and you to find out. *Grin*

This story takes place post-RMZ3, but pre-RMZ4. I think that my story (later on) ties up several loose ends in the Rockman Zero series, Like "Where did Omega come from and why does he look nothing like the original Zero from the X series?" and "What happened to X's armors?"

Stuff like that. A certain red-head may also make an appearance. I think that's all, so until next time!

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[EDIT-8/7/12] Phew.. Well.. that's a LITTLE better.. but still room for improvement… ah well… maybe another time.


	2. Gifted Curse

Agony. Excruciating pain.

Zero screamed, "Let this end!"

Did he scream? He could not tell anymore. Words came flying from his mouth. Names. Whose names? Shouldn't he know?

A new pain? It was at the top of his neck, just where his head started. But this pain seemed to explode, but not into more pain, instead it sent a splash of coolness over the searing heat that clung to him. Then both the coolness and heat alike ebbed away.

"…"

Drifting blackness. What was going on? Then, a light formed, glowing, growing. A familiar light, could he see now? He knew this light, he had known him for ages. Hadn't he?

"…X?" Zero whispered.

The glowing sphere bobbed in the space in front of him. Lilting sound rang through the air. A flash and X appeared in his holographic form, a sad smile on his face. So he _could _see… well sort of.

"Am I dead again?" sighed Zero.

X laughed, "Never one for idle talk, are you?"

"Am I dead again," repeated Zero, "You're here, talking to me, so that must mean that I am…" He trailed off.

"No, you aren't dead _again_, you're just unconscious," X crossed his arms and shook his head good naturedly.

"Unconscious…But why?"

"Don't you remember yet?"

"Remember what?"

"If you don't know what I'm talking about, don't worry about that just yet."

"Alright, if you say so." Zero smiled, "I didn't realize Harpuia was so touchy about his gender, did you?"

"That's not quite the whole story, but yes, I was aware." X smiled, "Everything about him, from his armor design and namesake to his figure and voice, would say that he's a girl, but he's not. So he's had problems with it a lot, even from guys."

"You mean..?" Zero made a face.

"Yes. Let's just say, when I wasn't just a cyber elf, I had to have a few talks with him about the difference between a 'light punch' and pulverized electrocution."

"Wow, he's come a long way."

X chuckled at the memory, and then the laugh faded.

"In all seriousness though," X began, "I need you to understand why I'm here in the first place."

"Can you answer a question first?"

"I suppose, what is it?"

"Those names, I feel like I know those people. Like I knew them but…"

"…but can't seem to remember them?" finished X.

"Yeah, that's it."

"It feels like that because you _do_ know them."

"…come again?"

X laughed again. He seemed to be in good spirits, "Do you know why I'm here?"

"No."

X gave Zero a funny look, it was like the answer was sitting right in front of him.

Zero shifted uncomfortably, "Okay X, you are _really_ starting to creep me out."

"Would you like you know why I'm here?" X smiled.

"_May_be," Zero drawled.

"Zero, the reason why I'm here," X held up his hand, palm facing up, and streams of data started to swirl around it slowly coming together at a point just above his hand, "Is to reestablish your memory."

Zero's eyes grew wide.

"The Mother Elf is thankful of the service you have done for her by purifying her."

"Wait, _I _did that?"

X nodded, "She was purified by you killing Omega. Because he existed, she could not recover on her own."

The streams of data whirling around X's hand dwindled, then stopped altogether, revealing an orb-like object. It shimmered**,** seeming to give of light then snatch it away.

Zero reached out slowly, and X placed the strange object in his hand. The orb pulsed, the data streams exploded from it and wrapping around his arm at first then slowly cocooning the red Reploid in data that warmed everything it touched rapidly. After being pushed away, the searing heat from before seemed to return to reclaim its victim

"What the hell!" cried out Zero, locking his gaze on X.

"Relax Zero, the program just ensuring that it's really you," X told him calmly, then his demeanor seemed to shift to a sadder one, "But do keep this in mind, not all of your memories are good, in fact most aren't."

"X! What did you do!" cried out Zero in a slightly panicked voice.

But X had vanished, and Zero spiraled back into oblivion.

**OoOoOoOoO**

Yay, another chapter! This makes me _so_ happy! Again thanks to my beta, SubZeroChimera, (And to her, yes there was more, but I took that away for a different chapter, but I accidentally sent the file without saving it first ….Whoops?)

To those who reviewed ~Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you _so_ much, because without those reviews, I might just have given up! Thank you for staying with me, and if you didn't review? What are you waiting for? And I now there was over 75 of you who at least visited.…


	3. DeadLife

Disclaimer: Nope don't own Rockman Zero, wish I did, but I don't.

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He wandered. The same way he had wandered for the last two months. Everything he saw, green, everywhere he looked, green. Green. Green…

Any more green and Omega was going to go stark raving mad. He couldn't help thinking that he had a new least favorite color. The demon closed his eyes slowly, If he opened them and there was still nothing but green he'd…well he wasn't quite sure what he'd do, but he'd do _something_ to this gradiently challenged world.

He opened his eyes and roared with what he saw. Still _nothing_but the cursed color green.

"GRAHHH!" Bellowed the demon, smashing his fist into the ground like surface he stood on creating a small crater, he did so multiple times as he raged on the plain-like area where he had been for the last few hours. He stopped short when instead of the punishing sound of near solid rock turning into gravel, a suspicious clanging sound originated from his last smack at the ground.

The red demon glanced at his surroundings. Nothing, he was out in the middle of nowhere, except the numberless miniature craters that scattered about the ground for as far as he could see. He hadn't wrecked any walls because there was none to wreck. That was why he had settled for the ground, although he now noticed that there was a fine line in the distance, a cliff? It was too far away to matter though. So what had made the sound?

Now thoroughly curious, the crimson being brushed away the cybernetic dirt and found himself staring intrigued at what appeared to be a trapdoor. He was about to open it before he hesitated. This was how Dr. Wiel had trapped his mind the last time. After being free from the madman, albeit in a world that seems to love the ever-present, oh-so-enraging green, Omega was more than reluctant to investigate the mysterious door in the ground if it would cause trouble like _that_ to him again.

Deciding to err on the side of caution, Omega closed his eyes again selected some line of coding from the world around him, trying memorizing the area.

Then he opened a warp system, something he learned to do while still Weil's slave, forming it into a door to the last marker that he had set.

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Neo Arcadia's main stream database, not much to look at, but hey, it held the data the Omega was looking for. Before he went anywhere he immediately manipulated the data streams around him so that he looked like a higher-up's retrieval program. It would fool all but the highest-ranking technicians who would spot the flaws a mile away on a screen that was blurry, twenty centimeters, inverted, and of cheap security-quality. Heck, that's what the guys were paid to do anyway! Omega made a mental note to avoid security cameras at all costs. If Weil discovered that his program data had survived that blast… he shivered slightly, he did not want to go through that again.

Weil hadn't known that he had rigged a backup data behind his back, but by learning to move in that enormous 'body' that really was only a walking isolation tank for Omega while Weil worked on the control program. Omega picked up a few handfuls of tricks for cyberspace manipulation. He slipped in and out of various collections of data as if searching for something like a normal retrieval program. Going in the regular pattern that would be best to avoid cameras, still be normal, and get to where he needed to go was very time consuming. So Omega let his thoughts wander

Another thing he learned was how the original X was able to become a cyber elf without the assistance of Mother Elf. Omega inwardly gritted his teeth at that at last thought. That was another sore point for him.

While either Omega or Mother Elf's infection that made her the dark elf existed, neither could resist Weil's command. The dark elf was lucky because she could escape through cyberspace. As long as she fled from Weil, though, she spread her infection. Omega was ordered to capture the dark elf, even if he had to 'turn cities to ash to do it.' Weil must have realized what would happen if they linked the infection the dark elf spread back to him. Especially if they realized why he did it. Zero was famous, and if the people learned that he was trying to use the Dark elf the force his body to be his slave? That wouldn't be pretty.

Ah, he was in the correct room, the history room for the atlas from now to the past. He looked about the area grabbing a few files, as well as the one he knew he would need. Scanning it to make sure it was the right one. Omega frowned at what seemed to be a bit of gibberish.

"It says that hunter stasis lab collapsed due to Les Proies Chasseuses… sounds like gibberish, but wait, could it be in code or maybe another language?" The demon mused to himself, "And that's the only thing ever near that area…"

Omega wandered over to another section of the data base using the common organization method for electronic databases to see if there was a file on coding, but somewhere in the middle of his way he glanced at the data on the off chance that there was a file with this gibberish. Not expecting to actually find anything, the God of Destruction was surprised when he did spot something.

Immediately he pulled the file and started reading.

**Les Proies Chasseuses**

_Les Proies Chasseuseswas a very large group of Irregulars that banded together to strike out at the Irregular Hunters. Founded in the late 22ndcentury by the outlaw Maverick before the elf wars. Having originated in France, the groups name is also French meaning "The Hunting Prey(s)"._

_The main purpose ofLes Proies Chasseuseswas to strike out against the Irregular Hunters (Also know as the Maverick Hunters for various branches in the Americas and most of Europe) in such a way that would inhibit the performance of said Irregular Hunters. Arguably, the largest accomplishment ofLes Proies Chasseuseswas the collapsing of numerous Hunter stasisand research labs. The reploids inside were presumed to be lost forever, either by turning Irregular and joiningLes Proies Chasseusesor by death. Presumably the motive of their actions is dissent at being wiped of their memory and turned into cyber elves._

_The bodies of those lost were never recovered, but a memorial service was given to honor those lost afterLes Proies Chasseuseswas disbanded and eliminated._

"So it's French…" now it made sense, Omega had never learned more than Japanese and very basic English, and Dr. Weil Forbade him from learning more, saying, "If you can understand them then you may pity them. They do not deserve any pity for what they have done to me."

Omega grinned. Now he could go exploring. He quickly replaced the files exactly the way he found them, after copying and storing the data on them in his memory banks of course (who knew when that information might be usefull?), and then reopened the warp to the plain. The only thing he hadn't noticed about the atlas was that the area was a dried lakebed.

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Now back on the plain (or rather, unbeknownst to him, dried lakebed), Omega cursed violently to himself. He forgot to mark the place of the door.

Suddenly he was hit with inspiration. Stooping down the crimson reploid gathered a handful of gravel and chucked it straight up in the air. He immediately ducked is head to keep the little rocks from going up his nose or something. That would be unpleasant.

Hearing a faint *clink* somewhere to his right he searched in that area. Sure enough he found the door.

Without any hesitation now, The God of Destruction yanked the mysterious passage open. Then he paused, remembering the last excerpt from the file about the French Irregular Group, and smiled. There must be dozens that could be used as hosts.

He hopped off into the murky depths of the dark chamber with a splash. A normal reploid wouldn't be able to see very well, but Omega wasn't exactly a normal reploid. The god of destruction glanced about and saw a swirl of data that indicated there was an inanimate body there in the real world.

Omega reached for the flickering sphere of light that would mean his freedom from cyberspace.

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Wow, this chapter came on strong and insistent. And I would have posted sooner if I had not realized I should introduce this before I got too far. Especially if I wanted it to work. It didn't help that I somehow wrote this down in three separate places, and with each version drastically different. But look on the bright side, the next chapter shouldn't take as long!

Oh, and a big thank you to my beta, SubZeroChimera. An excellent job as always!

Yes, I know this is a short chapter too, but there will be one that is obscenely long later on. So enjoy the short ones. Please tell me what you think!

EDIT: Okay this chapter has changed slightly after I read a future chapter and realized that thinks would match up more nicely if I changes a little wording here and there. Nothing _too_ big.

Thanks Nina for the translation help!


	4. Remorse

Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Rockman, or Zero or any of these characters. I forgot this the last couple times. I may go back and insert it if I remember to.

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"Any change?"

"Nope."

"It's been almost three days."

"I know," sighed Ciel.

After the conflict and the rumor mill called "The skirmish of testy tempers," Zero was brought to the maintenance room. But aside from the slightly uncreative name, there was something about the conflict that wasn't quite right. One thing eventually became apparent by complicated testing and deduction, was that the damage caused by Harpuia (who seemed to have made himself quite scarce the past half week) wasn't what was keeping him in unconscious state that he was in.

"It was almost like Sage was possessed or something…" Leviathian murmured, musing to herself, "I mean, he's normally so calm and collected. The last time I saw him get that mad was when launched the missile on that human residential district. But for Harpuia to get so mad over something so… so…._trivial_. It's just, I don't know…it's just…just…"

"Out of character?" asked Alouette, who was sitting on a stool watching Zero's face twitch very slightly, as though he was dreaming.

Leviathan snapped her fingers, "Exactly! It's just so out of character that it doesn't make sense. I know Fefnir has managed to get a lot of people riled up over stupid stuff, but that's because he's also a phenomenal motivator, it's his job."

Ceil smiled slightly, "That and his intelligence is questionable at times."

"If you're calling my brother an idiot, you're wrong."

"Oh, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

Leviathan smiled, cutting off Ciel's flabbergasted apology, "He can't be an idiot. It's really hard to be both and idiot…."She briefly paused for effect, then finished "_and_a total moron…Although, if anyone could pull that off, it would be Fefnir"

Ciel smiled, "It's a good thing he can't hear us right now." Alouette giggled.

"Yeah good thinking, sending him on a scouting trip. I'll bet that one threw him for a loop." Leviathan lightly tapped her fingers together.

"Huh?" said a confused Ciel, " I sent him there because I thought the desert was best suited for his abilities."

"He's not exactly the best reploid out there for a _scouting_ trip," Leviathan laughed, "Fef is loud, obnoxious, and has an unhealthy passion for making things blow up."

"Oh, and you think he knows how loud you say he is."

"Know it? Fefnir loves his explosions. Thrives on them. Did you think Sodom and Gomorra's namesakes were just for show?"

Ciel and Alouette both laughed for a while and gradually mellowed. Ciel broke the few brief moments of silence that followed.

"Poor Zero, He's been through a lot lately," she murmured.

"What makes you think that, Ciel?" Alouette glanced at the pink scientist. Leviathan nodded.

"Well, as far as I know, all it's been is get here, rush to the base's medical assembly line to drop something off, and then dash right back to the transerver. It seems the most common places he went to were that old residential district and the place that Omega's sword-like ship crashed. The derelict spacecraft seemed to be the lesser one."

"Come to think of it," Alouette began, "I haven't really see much of him these last two weeks. Because of that, old Andrew was always coming to me to talk. Zero is one of the few people here who will listen to him repeat his stories over and over. If he didn't pause to listen to Andrew, I don't think that he would have paused for maintenance."

"Why do you think that?"

Alouette glanced at Leviathan and shrugged, "Although Andrew will repeat his stories, he has gotten the fine art of taking little time to tell them down. They usually take less than a minute. Andrew has been coming to me for about two weeks now. Zero kind of knows that Andrew will make a nuisance of himself to find someone to tell his stories to, so he often stops in to see him and visit so that he won't be too bothersome to the reploids who are trying to do their job."

"Why doesn't anyone tell him he's being bothersome?" asked Leviathan.

"Nobody has the heart to," Alouette said sadly, "After his wife died, he never really recovered from her loss. Before Ciel found me I ran into him once or twice in Neo Arcadia when he was with her. He looked so happy and full of life. Now he goes around wearing that heartbroken and haunted expression. Don't tell him this, but everyone on base feels really sad for him. You know he was accused of attacking this one student when he really only gave her a bad mark on a test?"

"How do you know all this?" Leviathan asked.

Alouette looked down and shuffled her boots, "The girl he gave the mark to…I was created to be her playmate. Tiffany was snobby and bratty and I hated how she treated me, but I couldn't do anything or else her parents said they would send me to the retirement factory. Then when her parents saw the bad mark, they wanted to get Mr. Andrew fired and sent to the retirement factory. I spoke up and said that Mr. Andrew didn't do anything and that the reason Tiffany failed was that she and a human friend had played a game with me. But it wasn't a fun game, in fact it hurt, but eventually she forgot about me."

Leviathan glanced at Ciel, who looked like she had never heard this story before, "A game? What kind of game?"

"They called it 'interrogation.' They would tie me up in a chair and I would have to guess and confess what crime I was guilty to by the questions they asked me. I always knew when I got a question wrong because the would hit me with Tiffany's brother's baseball bat. Once I guessed right, they would laugh and start it over again." Alouette bit her lip and refused to meet the eyes of those who were watching her.

Ciel walked over and hugged the little reploid girl, "That's horrible, didn't the parents do anything about it?"

"No,"Alouette sniffled, "They hated reploids. The only reason they kept me around was because their Tiffany supposedly liked me. Really though, she only liked me because she could blame me for everything. Once I spoke up for Mr. Andrew, though, her parents screamed at me. They beat me so I decided that I would run away. I decided that I shouldn't have to put up with it anymore. Mr. Andrew was fired because the parents threatened to sue the school. They didn't want to deal with the legal issues that it would bring. So to saved their precious reputation, they fired one of their most efficient teachers. What really makes me sad is that later the Tiffany's friend once forgot her lunch on a field trip and Mr. Andrew gave her food. Tiffany was ill so her parents sent me to school instead of her to keep their families reputation from being ruined. She still hated reploids, she wouldn't even thank Mr. Andrew."

"She didn't?"

"No. If you ask Mr Andrew he'll say that she left him a note. She didn't, I did. Without the wig Tiffany's parents sent me to school with I looked almost identical to Tiffany's friend. I felt mad at Tiffany's friend for not thanking him when he was so nice to her. So I gave him that clover to say the thank you."

Alouette became quiet and went back to watching Zero breathe. An uncomfortable silence reigned in the maintenance room for a period of time. Leviathan shifted from one foot to the other and back before she broke the silence with an attempt to change the subject.

"What do you think Zero was shouting out before Cerveau sedated him?" She asked.

"They sounded like names," responded Ciel, who then shook her head, "but they didn't sound like anybody I know."

Leviathan looked thoughtful and tapped her chin steadily.

Ciel caught her look, "Why?"

"Do you think…?"She began.

"Do I think what?"

Leviathan shook her head, "Nah, never mind."

Alouette glance up with a raised eyebrow, "What is it, Fairy? We can't tell you what we think if we don't know the question."

The former guardian shuffled one foot, "Yeah, but… well, I don't think it's possible. So please don't think too much on it."

The effort seemed to sway Alouette, but it turned out not to be so. "You think that those names are from Zero's past, don't you ?"

"What? How did you know that?" Leviathan looked surprised.

Alouette smiled, "It's kind of obvious. I mean if you brought up that topic it's pretty plain that you were thinking about it. Besides I was considering it too." Alouette turned her attention back to Zero like a guardsman standing vigil.

"Right," Ciel nodded, "She and I both were. But that doesn't mean that he has his memory back."

"That's exactly why I didn't say anything at first. If Zero hasn't remembered his past so far why would he now. I would have thought that those lost memories were stuck in Omega."

"Good point, but I think something happened."Ciel nodded.

"Zero can take a lot of punishment and still be functional, remember how long he spent wandering around the desert after he killed Copy X for the first time?" Alouette gave a sidelong glance, "And after Sage brought him back here, he was out for less than a day… well, once we got his systems clean. He had enough sand in them for us to have a beach instead of a harbor!"

"You might be right there," Leviathan smiled.

"You'd be surprised at how often she's right." Ciel chuckled then continued, "Was it just me, or did some of those names sound familiar?"

Leviathan nodded thoughtfully, "You bring up and excellent question. I could have sworn that Master X, the real one, mentioned a few of them like 'Axl' and 'Signas.'"

Alouette snapped her fingers, but her eye never left Zero, "I know! I'll ask Perroquiet the next time I see him."

"Good thinking," said Ciel, "Wasn't he an apprentice file keeper for Neo arcadia at one point?"

"Yes, I believe so," Leviathan placed her hand lightly over her mouth, "According to the records when I last saw them, He ran away when his mentor was retired."

She caught the look that the two resistance members gave her, "What? I was the most computer talented of the Guardians. Never let Sage near yours, it took us three months to solve that problem(this sentence is also confusing). Copy X didn't like any file keeper of Neo Arcadia to stay alive after their job was done. He didn't want information leaking out and causing problems for his ambitions."

The two blondes glanced at each other than jumped slightly an unexpected sound.

The maintenance room's door whirred, clicking briefly, sliding open about halfway before it got stuck and refused to budge. Leviathan and Ciel turned to see who was coming in while Alouette kept watching Zero's chest rise and fall steadily. Rocinolle stood scowling at the jammed door.

"See, I told you that it gets stuck like that. Now I don't normally bother people about sticking doors, but that cannot happen with the maintenance room door. There are patients that need to be rushed in here, and a stuck door would cause a possibly lethal delay. The last thing I want is for some poor reploid to die because somebody had to spend fifteen minutes getting this blasted door unjammed."

"That's understandable," said Cerveau who was dragged in rather roughly with the head nurse's hand wrapped tightly around his wrist, "I'll get right to work on it. Oh, Ciel Leviathan, I didn't know you two were still here."

"I'm here too," Alouette waved.

"Ah, Alouette too. I see, well Ciel can I ask you to leave for a while? Rocinolle wants me to try to fix this door's sticking problem, and after that I have some tests I ought to run to see if I can get Zero to wake up."

"Oh, really?" Ciel smiled, "If that's the case, then I'll get out of your hair."

"Thank you. Normally I wouldn't mind if you stayed, but what I want to try and do would involve fumes. Now that's not harmful to us reploids, but it might be to you as a human," Cerveau frowned, "I'd prefer to err on the side of caution."

Alouette hopped down from the stool and shoved it back into the corner where she found it, "Right, and I'll see about tracking down Perroquiet." With that, she squeezed out the partially open door.

Leviathan nodded, "Good idea, and I think I'll head down to the harbor and see what's causing the fish to act so nervous. Oh, and by the way, I'm not sure, but I think I saw a stray cat here on the third floor."

"A cat?"

"Yeah," Leviathan paused on the other side of the door, "Go check it out if you're interested. I think I saw it around those potted plants that Pic put in on the other side of the elevator."

With that, she left, Ciel followed closely but paused at the stuck door too, "Hey Cerveau?"

"Yes, Ciel?" The mechanic glanced up from rummaging around in a drawer for some lubricant.

"If anything happens, will you call us back?"

"I can do that."

"Okay, thanks!" Ciel left and Cerveau studied the mechanical door briefly.

"Looks like this will take a while, might get messy too. Too bad, I just got these clothes." Cerveau fingered his clothes regretfully. He shook his head and began to work on fixing the stubborn door.

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Author's Notes (this is a long one):

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, I know it took me a long time when I said it would only take a little while. But there is a perfectly good reason for me to take so long. And I know not much happenes in this chapter. But think what is Omega up to during all of this? HMM! *Snickers*

The first reason is that I got a Nintendo DS lite (Well in a way it was 'given' to me) for my birthday (February 6) plus the two people who gave it to me also got me a copy of Pokemon soulsilver (Which Is kind of ironic considering I have the original silver and gold for the gameboy color so it wasn't quite as fun had it been a brand spanking new game) and well I played that for a while and neglected my writing. Yes I like Pokemon, got a problem with that? No? Good.

Then just as I was finishing soulsilver's main plot, I managed to "borrow" (She never told me when she wanted it back) my sister's copy of ZX and spent most of my free time playing so I could beat the game and get to my real reason of why I was even playing it. And since then, I have obsessively been fighting Omega with the goal of beating him without taking damage (If you want to see how and when that has progressed check my profile) so now I can beat him about one in four- five times without healing items (I might be able to beat him every time if I did use them, but I'm stubborn) so that my record is only taking six pellets of damage. I feel pretty proud of myself. So feeling elated I decided to finish writing these chapters as a celebration gift.

Thank you to my Beta, SubZeroChimera. Great job you totally pointed out over half a dozen things I missed even in the reread!

Thank you to those of you reviewed, I do appreciate your adding to my pool. And as to the two anonymous reviews that I got last chapter (actually the only reviews I got for the last chapter…)

Well, to the person who called yourself "nina" Go read what the person, who called themselves "The dissonant one," wrote. I couldn't say it better myself. I used google translation (I had originally thought that it was " La Proi Parsue" or something like that. But then at the suggestion of a friend I tried google) so if the name is off, blame google. I was only using French because it sounded a little more exotic. Plus, most people seem to give all the fun to either their country of origin or Japan, so I wanted to be different.

To my real life friend, "The Dissonant One," Thank you, and just for you I won't block anonymous reviews just yet, though you really should get your own account. I _will_ bug you about that.

Though let this be a warning to those of you who read this. If you have something that might be rude, please say it to my face. Chances are I won't be offended, But I'd really rather not waste my author's note to explain things that are just convenient plot devices.

Okay, I'm done ranting for now, so until next time!


	5. Remember

Disclaimer: Nope don't own the characters, just the ideas.

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He was lost in time and memory and pain. Where one moment stopped another took its place, ceaselessly raining on him. Some were happy and joyful, but most were of him ripping his friends, his comrades, and his love to shreds. He watched in horror as he looked at his bloodstained hands. Whose blood? Human? Reploid? Beast? Countless innocents falling to a sick pleasure and a sadistic laugh, and all the while an inner kindness keened in misery at the destruction and death in reign of his view. Each happy memory eventually consumed by a malicious bloodlust, a seemingly insatiable thirst for fear and an unyielding hunger for pain. There was a lingering insanity at every edge of his mind. They were but shadows of what had caused the crazed fervor for the crimson life as it dripped from each helpless victim as piece by piece they were separated from their limbs and left to die.

Why? The inner kindness, better known as Zero, could never quite keep the maniacal bloodlust, who was known as Omega, from influencing his actions. Fighting, even for the purpose of saving, it was still fighting. It was the demon inside of Zero as he struggled against his bonds. Flash. Flash. Each memory flashed by, a thorn. But before anything else happened to the wayward mind he felt something. It was as though the darkest memory had condensed itself into a shape. The draconic beast devoured him, thrusting him into the darkest, most foreboding memory he had.

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"**You will not win," 0m3g4 screamed at his adversary.**

"**Omega, It is truly an ironic thing. You are the one who forced me to fight, but you end up being bested by the one who you forced." Zero struck out against the malicious being that had dug its mental claws dug deeply into the essence that made them who they were.**

"**You idiot, do you realize that by taking me away you will lose yourself!"**

"**I have endured you far too long. It is time to end it."**

"**Don't you get it**_**Z3r0**_**?" Sneered 0m3g4, "You and I. We are the**_**same**_**. If I go**_**you do too**_**. We are stuck together. I, the true being of this body, and you, you are just a**_**reserve**_**. Old man Wily had no idea of the monster he made when he made**_**me**_**, but he could have cared less about**_**you**_**."**

**He had intentionally used his serial name. The one his creator had installed that allowed him to control him. It had worked with Zero, but not 0m3g4. The "true" one, 0m3g4Z3r0. 0m3g4 had been the original program, but he hid behind "Z3r0" when Wily had tried to force his will on him. The reserve personality had taken the full force of their creator's punishment and rapidly deteriorated.**

**0m3g4 screamed in agony when Zero lashed repeatedly at him.**

"**You are the one who made the 'god of destruction.'" Zero snarled with a blast of mental strength.**

"**How**_**dare**_**you," Hissed the demon, "Do you**_**have any idea what**_**— Eearaaagh!"**

**Zero cut the demon off.**

"**You**_**child**_**! I will take you from yourself**_**then**_**leave."**

**Zer0 wince as he felt himself being drained of something. Like regression, then realized. _He's turning back time! Making me weaker and himself stronger, but…how?_**

"**You'll find you won't be so full of yourself after this, Om3g4 smiled dangerously.**

"**No I… won't..le…t you…eh!" Z3r0 wailed. Omeg4 cackled.**

"**Weak! Ah, I would have expected better from you**_**Zero**_**."**

**The reserve program winced, and desperately tried to recall his fighting memories, only to discover they were lost. Like they had been broken off.**

"**Ah, such succulent memories, like a perfectly ripe fruit." Omega mocked, "You will not overpower ME,**_**program**_**. I will simply feed on your strength."**

Remembering Zero felt himself pulled toward the source and, from his own memory, realized what he had to do.

**A voice stated quietly, "It is not your time Omega."**

**The God of Destruction whirled to face a Zero only a century younger than the Remembering, "YOU! But how…? No. _NO_! You can not save yourself from this!" He charged at the red reploid before him but was stopped short by an invisible barrier.**

**"You cannot stop me Omega, even you can not manipulate time." He leveled his eyes at his attacker, "And destroying me now would undoubtedly cause a paradox."**

**He glanced at the general direction of Remembering, who must have beaten Omega some many years in the future and somehow won, but, although he knew by some feeling he was there, he could not see him as Omega had. Omega always cursed those he fought to this particular cyberspace. Unnoticed by everyone a fifth being lingered in the background, simply watching.** **Memory addressed Remembering, "For if I am to be you, then I am not yet finished."**

"**What!"**

"**So, without any further pleasantries,"**Zero braced his younger Memory self with a galaxy of mental strength left to him by the Mother elf's memory gift**. He repeated the ancient words, "It is time to end it."**

"**Is that so?" Sneered Omega, "And how do you propose to leave this place with me gone? I am the**_**being**_**of this place. I am the sole commander of it. Did you forget '**_**ancient**_**one'?" Omega allowed a look of pure evil to spread across his maw looking right at the drifting one.**Zero received a piercing glare. **He leapt forward suddenly, the dimensions of the not-reality warping and tearing. He bellowed his battle cry, "Wari wa messiah nari, I am the messiah!"**

**Memory Zero launched all he had at Omega, "Begone! My NIGHTMARE!"**

**Omega for one moment looked uneasy at the sheer size of pure raw energy coming right at him, before it met him with such force that he was thrown clear to one of the tears he had so recklessly made. It was a scene of a plain in cyberspace. The type most typically used in holding units for things like cyber elves or destructive Mavericks until the Mother Elf could cleanse them.**

**Omega roared and is claws dug into the fabric of was real and what was only memory, "You can not banish me to cyberspace for forever, you_bleeding heart_. The first chance I get I will hunt you down and ELIMINATE YOU! You and that pitiful human race you defend. They are nothing but mindless beasts to be slaughtered and sacrificed to _me_. Even now you will lose your memory! _You will__lose yourself_!"**

**Omega was sucked into the tear and Memory wailed as he groped desperately at the ground, his eyes a startling pitch black, "Monster!" He wailed, " What have you done to me? I am… no wait! I… I can't! Who did you make me! No… NO! NOOOO!"**

Suddenly the memory's onslaught ceased and Zero emerged from himself. He opened his blue eyes to the world once more.

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Wow… That was fast. I really need to stop guilt tripping myself…or take so long in updating. And if I do that to myself…oh my… A new chapter already…you guys happy? I'm not really a big fan of "1337," but the number digit thing made sense here for me trying to produce a feeling of progression and regression.

Okay, it begins in the wordy explanations again…

Oh, and just something I though I might mention, but my IRL friend "The dissonant one" will not be rude to "nina" anymore after being given that scolding and one of my own. I made them post an apology. Don't worry, the damage isn't permanent, but thanks for deflating their ego a bit! I'm sorry, I didn't know you were fluent in French nina, although my friend is right, if you do give me the correct translation, I would be happy to go back and fix it!

And to my friend? Nope, you get to see it the same rate as everyone else, nice try, but sorry. *smug look*

I wonder if anyone can identify all the different Zeros that show up?


	6. Shame

Disclaimer: No, I do not own any characters mentions so far in the story, they belong to Capcom.

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"Perroquiet?"

The small reploid turned to see a reploid girl clad in pink skipping up to him

"Yes Alouette?" he replied, adjusting his strange glasses.

"How much pre-Elf wars history do you know?"

The small reploid frowned, "You should know that there is not that much data that survived that, and almost everything before 21XX is pretty much nonexistent."

"I'm pretty sure we don't need to know that far back, but how much do you know after that?"

Perroquiet sighed, "What is it you _want_ me to know?"

"Does any of this sound familiar?" Alouette repeated what Zero had been hollering earlier, "Ciel thought that they sounded like names, and, after she repeated it to me, I agree with her."

The smaller reploid nodded slowly, "Yes, they do indeed sound like they would be names, some of them ring a bell."

"Really?"

"Yes, unfortunately, I can't seem to recall where from." Perroquiet shook his head, "My apologies, Miss Alouette."

"Just call me Alouette, there's no problem with being informal with me," Alouette smiled brightly, "Just be sure to let Ciel or me know if you remember what or who the names are for."

"You are leaving so soon?"

"Yeah, I'm going to go find Sage."

"Mister Harpuia? I suppose he is still moping, may I accompany you?"

"Well," Alouette looked slightly uncomfortable, but started to walk, "I guess you can tag along if you'd like, it's not like I can stop you, but please keep this in mind; Even though I'm going, he's probably not in the mood for talk."

Perroquiet jogged to catch up with the retreating reploid, "Hmm, it is because of Mister Zero, right?"

"Right, He's beating himself up because he feels he let his anger compromise his self control."

"I see. It probably does not help that Mister Zero has been comatose for as long as he has."

Alouette shook her head, "Not at all."

Perroquiet adjusted his glasses, ending their plotting to fall off, "I am rather curious about a semi-related topic, however. What is Mister Fefnir's opinion on this whole matter?"

"I don't think anyone knows except for him."

"May I inquire as to why that is so?"

"He got sent on a scouting trip to the Twilight Desert almost right after the whole incident."

"Good choice, the desert would suit his elemental abilities," Perroquiet looked Alouette strangely when she burst into a fit of giggles at that comment, "That was not intended to be funny. What did I say?"

"Nothing," Alouette snickered waving her hand dismissively as the duo reached the main elevator.

Perroquiet gave her a look that said he didn't buy that it was indeed nothing (as it wasn't quite 'nothing'). He opened his mouth to voice this when he noticed that Alouette had pressed an odd button. He raised an eyebrow, "The roof?"

She glanced at him, "Harpuia's sulking on top of the western guard tower."

Perroquiet silently wondered how she had found this out, but simply replied, "Oh."

Silence ruled during the ride in the elevator. Before long, there was a clicking beep that told them they were there.

Alouette skipped along with Perroquiet power walking behind her to keep up until the both of them reached the base of the westernmost Guard tower. Alouette cupped her hands around her mouth and called into the evening sky.

"Come on Sage, stop moping around! It's not going to help any!"

There was no reply.

Alouette scowled, placing one hand on her hip in an irritated posture, " Harpuia, I know you're up there, so it's no use pretending that you're not!"

"Maybe he _is_ not—" Perroquiet began.

Alouette sighed, "He's up there, but you've got to be pretty persistent." Then in a much louder voice, "Harpuia!"

This time they finally got a reply. "Go away!"

Alouette flashed a look at Perroquiet that said 'I told you so,' before yelling back, "No, come down from there!"

"What do you need me for?"

"Sage, I'm not going to shout an entire conversation, so either you come down, or I'll go up! I need to talk to you!"

There was an exasperated sigh, "Alouette, no matter what you say, that does not excuse me from what I did. I have no desire to talk about it, so please leave."

"I guess I'm coming up then!" shouted Alouette. She turned to Perroquiet, "Come on," She said in a softer voice.

"But how?" The shorter reploid asked in confusion.

"You'll see, now come on," Alouette told him and dragged him back to the elevator, pressing the button that would make them go down one floor.

"What are we doing _here_? The only thing on this floor is…Oh," Perroquiet's voice turned slightly reluctant, "Oh no, you don't mean…"

Alouette giggled, "So there _is_ a reason why you're always on the ground floor."

"Oh _my_," Perroquiet groaned, "you _do_ mean… I hate those ladders…"

The duo had arrived at said ladders and peered up into the shaft. Alouette spoke up.

"You should go up first, if you're that acrophobic. If you fall I can catch you…unless you've changed your mind?"

Perroquiet shook his head vehemently, "No, I have every intention of following through with this," He grabbed onto the ladder and flinched at every time one of the rungs squeaked as he climbed, convinced that it would suddenly give way when he grabbed onto one of them. His fears proved fruitless once he safely reached the top. He was _almost_ disappointed that the rungs didn't give out or something of the like.

"Now that wasn't so bad, now was it?" Chirped Alouette, ignoring his return comment about still having to go down to wave at the soldier manning the tower, "Hi Faucon!"

Faucon turned to smile at the reploid children, "Hello Alouette, Perroquiet. What brings the two of you up here?"

"Can you open the window for us?" Alouette said and Perroquiet looked slightly pale when he realized how she planned on 'coming up.'

"Harpuia again?" Faucon asked.

"Yup."

Faucon chuckled and walked over to the window above the cannon which was currently pointing North, opening it, "You know, I don't understand why he likes this particular tower so much."

"Sage usually sulks in the evenings, I think he picks this tower because he can see the sunset without any obstructions."

"Makes sense," Faucon nodded, beckoning the two over, " Just be careful. The metal is slick after that drizzle we had earlier today"

"We will, thanks for the warning," Alouette nodded thankfully before clambering easily out the window, Perroquiet very close behind. Wanting to be able to have help in case he slipped.

As Alouette had assumed, Harpuia was to the right of the cannon barrel. Though he was in his armor, he was not wearing his helmet. opting to let his hair, a milk chocolate brown streaked randomly with flashes of emerald color, blow freely in the wind, strangely calm for being up so high. Alouette suspected Harpuia was altering the wind very slightly so it wouldn't blow his visitors off the slippery tower. He sat cross-legged with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees watching the sun set red and orange.

"You know, it really isn't your fault," Alouette stated quietly.

"How do you figure?" mumbled Harpuia.

"Mister Fefnir had no reason to say what he did," Perroquiet nodded.

"I had no real reason to act the way I did," responded Harpuia.

Perroquiet frowned, "Mister Harpuia, it has been almost a week…"

"And guess who is to blame for that?" Harpuia returned.

Perroquiet began to say something else, but an annoyed Alouette cut him off.

"Perroquiet, shush! I wouldn't have even told you where I was going and let you tag along had I known what you were going to say," she scowled.

"He's right, Alouette."

"Now _you_hush!" the reploid girl turned her gaze sternly onto Harpuia, "Zero didn't have to throw himself in front of Ciel, she didn't need to be standing there, Fefnir didn't have to throw you back, and Fefnir certainly didn't have to pick a fight with Zero in the first place!"

Harpuia looked solemnly at Alouette the most prominent emotion showing in them was… shame? Alouette blinked in surprise, she would have expected sadness, remorse, or even regret, but not shame, not from Harpuia. His eyes went downcast again as he looked away, back to the clouds. Alouette followed his gaze.

"Sage," She began after sitting down next to the former guardian, "I want you to know something. Ever since you, Leviathan, and Fefnir joined us against Wiel, we've thrived. Most people, be they human or reploid, are self-centered. Wiel branded you three traitors because he saw you as a threat, the citizens of Neo Arcadia know by now what he did to (Human Residential district), and are most likely too afraid Wiel will send a missle down on them if they protest."

Aloutte glanced at Harpuia and put her hand on his shoulder, causing him to look at her, "The resistance has many wealthy citizens of Neo Arcadia secretly supporting us. Human citizens. We fear for them, Wiel has more hate for humanity than anything else, which is why he even launched that missle in the first place. You're a good person Harpuia, and we at the resistance base always suspected that you might understand our cause one day after the demise of the first Copy X."

Harpuia winced, "It's not just this situation that I am upset over. I am mad at myself for many things. When Wiel brought back that second copy, what could I do, he was still the first Copy, but his mind was damaged, that's why he talked with a stutter."

Alouette patted his shoulder.

He looked up in self-disgust, "And all I did was welcome that tyrant back with open arms like some lost child. What gets me is that I knew it wasn't the real X, but I wanted so badly for Master X to be back that I refused to take off the rose colored glasses. I knew that master X was gone forever when Elpizo fled. I knew that he wasn't alive anymore when Zero took me up. He was sorry that he was not there in time to stop it. It was my fault he wasn't, I shouldn't have told him to kill me first before he went to save Master X. He should have left me there. I failed my duty, and that cost Master X's life."

"But X didn't die, he was a cyber elf all this time," Alouette said softly.

Harpuia shook his head, "Even so his body was destroyed. By it being so Master X could not return to it when his energies ran low."

"Did you know that copy X's body was supposed to be for the original X?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"When Ciel made the body, she did it with the intention that X would be able to return to the world after she found out that his original body was being used to seal the dark elf." Alouette fidgeted, "Unfortunately, being as young as she was, when she made him she had no Idea that in making a reploid body, they are made with a soul, so it would be nearly impossible for another to take it over. When Zero was transferred out of his own body, it was (able to be done then) (made possible) because the body was (made empty) (emptied) by Mother Elf. When copy X was made, mother elf wasn't around to vacate the body. When he woke up, Ciel genuinely thought that it was really X."

Harpuia shifted, "Is there a point in telling me this?"

"Everyone makes mistakes Harpuia, mistakes aren't errors until you refuse to fix them. You can still fix yours."

Harpuia caressed his forehead as though he had a headache, "But how will I face them?"

Perroquiet sighed, "Mister Harpuia, you should know that Mister Zero is very forgiving. Do you remember any of the time when Zero brought you here after you got hurt by Omega?"

"That I do, though I'm not sure why you would bring it up. That time was little but trouble."

"There were several nasty rumors going about base after someone had seen you carted to the maintenance room."

Understandable, it would only be natural as they did not know of the Guardians' demotion.

They cycled around for a while, but after a few missions, Zero heard a few of them from Pic. He took time to disprove the rumors himself. He must have realized that certain ties were severed."

Harpuia looked at them with surprise, "Why would he do that?"

Aloutte and Perroquiet exchanged smiles, and Alouette spoke up, "Zero… kind of has his own way of judging people. After all, although he may deny it, he was the one who made it possible for you three Guardians to join us."

"He was right in saying what he did to me in the maintenance room when I first woke up…" Harpuia murmured, "When I convinced my siblings to come with me, I was thinking that you could only benefit, that we couldn't make it any worse. But I feel like I couldn't be more wrong with the way things are now."

"But mister Harpuia," Perroquiet said, "Do you not see how much your being here has benefited the resistance?"

There was a long pause while Harpuia mulled all this over quietly. A shrill beep shattered the silence, causing them all to jump slightly.

"This is Alouette," said reploid answered her headset, "He is? That's great! We'll be right down."

"What's going on?" whispered Perroquiet.

Alouette looked over at the two, "He's awake!"

Harpuia looked away, and Alouette smiled at him, but the expression slowly faded as she realized something, "Oh no you don't." She firmly grabbed him around the arm, "You're not going anywhere."

"Alouette?" asked Perroquiet.

"You will see Zero!"

"He's a warrior Alouette, I nearly killed Ciel! Think! I shouldn't even be here in the first place! He should hate me!"

"Did he hate you when you were _trying_ to kill him?" Alouette said in such a way that Harpuia started to doubt.

"How would I know? I never asked him because I was so determined to kill _him_." He decided to respond.

Alouette threw up he free hand in frustration, "Sometimes you are an idiot Sage Harpuia!"

The green reploid glowered slightly, "And that was something that I wouldn't have known? Many problems have caused because of my lack of forethought."

Alouette stared evenly into the green repliod's eyes; the soft-spoken demeanor most people knew her for was completely gone. "Listen you! Harpuia, if Zero had hated you _at all_, he would have left you to die when Omega injured you, left you to die to rid the resistance of an inconvenience!"

The former guardian held her gaze a moment longer then looked away, "Fine… I will see him even though I think it's a bad idea."

At that Alouette smiled, satisfied, "Good."

When Harpuia didn't say anything she grinned even wider, "You know, apparently Perroquiet over there doesn't like heights."

Perroquiet paled as he realized what was going on. Harpuia looked curiously at the reploid girl, "So…?"

"Do you think we could get a lift down?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Author's Notes:

Whew, that was a longish one. Lessee this ended up being just over 7 pages typed, and about 5 notebook pages… wow. I surprise myself how much the details can change from notebook to computer.

Anyway, I know some of you _might_ think Alouette is being too assertive, but I think she's only shy before she knows someone. Funny thing that I finished chapter… Lessee…chapter 9 just before I did this one…whoa, wait, chapter_9_! o.o I probably won't post it right after 8 though. Remember me saying there might be an appearance of a certain redhead?

Anyways, thanks to my reviews everyone I actually topped ten, which makes me really happy! I love reviews, I'm just going to come out and say it. There are two times I typically type up stuff. 1 When my brother is hogging the Internet and I feel like it (aka I'm bored) OR 2 When I get a review, I'm encouraged to write faster…(Hint! Hint!)

Thanks to SubZeroChimera for the beta read. Thanks to my sister ImaginationInterpreter for suggesting things to me just as I finished some other things. And Thank YOU for taking the time to read this and (hopefully review) look forward to more.

Until next time!


	7. Dread Progress

Disclaimer: Nope I'm not the owner here.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Nothing! Absolutely _nothing_! Is there nobody here—" Omega snarled, hurling the already damaged soul at a wall and bouncing it back. He smacked it soundly and with a glittering crash the soul was no more, "—who is a suitable host!"

A choir of mournful keening voices surrounded the red Demon at the rampage that had already claimed many of their numbers.

"Worse than Innarabbita right after a recharge," he grumbled, his temper at its apex. The hall was littered with bodies of reploids who, while technically not dead, had fallen so far into disrepair that they would be considered no longer functional. Omega twitched and lashed out at a light-toned lavender colored soul. The shimmering orb squirmed, its light wrapping around his hand.

"Ancient One! Mercy! I implore you!" It cried in a voice that made him believe that it was female. He ignored the soul's clamoring and mentally ran a scan on it's capacity. It was in a lot better condition than all the previous ones he had destroyed, although it made sense as the position showed that her main CPU would have been under a metal table when her body finally succumbed to depleted energy and collapsed, protecting from falling rubble in the decrepit research lab.

He mentally flashed back to some information he had about Les Proies Chasseusesand the lab he stood in. According to one of the related files, a team of mutos reploids, its leader a sea-based form with the ability of knocking a reploid out for an undetermined time, had attacked the lab.

"A jellyfish?" Omega muttered to himself, "How could a strictly sea based form attack a land- based lab, much less lead a team to do it?"

A map file flashed out of nothingness into the air in front of Omega, it showed that there was a sort of shallow freshwater lagoon to the lakebed. Now it was only a wasteland from centuries of war. That lagoon was nearly 3 miles away, much too far for a team or strictly sea-based mutos to even be a hint practical. One thing about Les Proies Chasseusesthat was obvious was that their leader, was very shrewd.

A sudden high-pitched wail of some nearby souls made Omega wince. With a growl his hand clenched the slightly slower one he had grabbed earlier in his fist.

He concentrated one the task he had set himself to. It was one he had attempted only once before, the results being unsuccessful. Maybe it would work better now that he was completely in cyberspace

The area around his hand rippled with pure raw energy whirling around it. Although the method may have seemed impractical to someone that didn't know what was going on, it was only data manipulation. The energy began to split the soul from the decrepit body, linking the trailing code back onto itself. He created a loyalty program, self-binding code and a transfer linking protocol. The area around the terrified soul began to glow red and purple in the ripples.

The souls redoubled its squirming and bleated a wail of misery. The cyberspace around Omega slowly joined in the bi-colored ripple. It exuded dominance to the loyalty program. The response from the soul was a shriek at the ripples turning into hundreds of wisp of data that grabbed at the hapless being.

The cries morphed in to a sound that was like a wailing banshee, echoes melded with the fresh screams into an eerie harmony. The souls that had clamored in the corridors fell into a nervous hush. Their screams wavered in pitch and volume as the wisps of data cruelly rewrote her programming, her entire being. The shimmer-glow of the soul dimmed and her resistance became feebler by the moment as Omega eradicated all of what she used to be. He grimaced, as this was the tricky part. Using extreme caution he called on some of his own internal data that he utterly despised, the connection of him and the Dark elf curse. Omega took the long delicate lines of coding as it wound itself through the fingers of his free hand before the end of it came along. He carefully disconnected the code from himself and put it near the soul.

It shivered like a small beast coming to life as it coiled around the soul turning slowly as if inspecting a curious piece of prey. As though it had decided that it was satisfactory the code spiraled inward pulling the crying soul into a vague humanoid form.

Omega gathered the strings of all the circling energy and there was an audible snap and the soul went rigid, her voice cutting out as all of the data seemed to be sucked into a single point.

And just like that, it was over.

Swaying very slightly with a touch of tiredness, Omega began to hope that it had worked and it wasn't a waste of much needed energy. He opened his hand slowly and let out a breath that he wasn't aware he'd been holding in the first place. A light sparkled, tumbling out of his hand from the tiny figure that now stood in his palm who turned to look at him

She looked like the baby elves might have had they been allowed to grow, but more humanoid in appearance. She was a deep violet in contrast to lavender and her colorings were touched by the trademark reddish pink and blue of reaper elves.

At the abrupt change in their companion, the souls began to murmur uneasily, Omega shot them an irritated glare before turning to the cyber elf in his hand.

"Deal with them," he growled.

A sharp quick nod from the elf, really just a child now, confirmed that she understood the whole extent of his order. She leapt from his hand and sped toward the entrance where his temper had started to build.

He raised and eyebrow, "Clever thing." Omega shook his head and thought back to what had been on his mind before the noisy souls had interrupted his thinking. If the only thing close to the hatch was this particular lab… Omega blinked, "An underwater entrance…" It made sense. Once the actual lake dried up the leaky hatch would let the water evaporate slowly, which was why he was currently knee deep in was had been lake water. He remembered bits of information on files from the elf wars, gazing in shock at nothing in particular.

"…and there was only one… one lab like this." Blinking, he turned to look down the hall that he had yet to go. "It couldn't be…"

He started walking picking up his speed gradually until he was outright sprinting through the corridor, his demeanor shifting to an unnatural fervor. Ready to knock down every door he came across.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The good mood didn't last long.

Cursing whoever had built this compound, he stalked through the ruins smacking down every door he came across easily. His reaper elf, having stayed behind, was working frantically on the souls. He had guessed it would take a long while for her to catch up with him

He reached the end of hall in a sour mood. He stepped over wreckage of one door. He shot out his fist with more force than what he had been using before

_CLAAAAAANG_!

The sound reverberated through the air like a giant gong, and Omega stared at the door. A barely visible dent showed. Omega reached out at the control panel next to the door reluctantly.

Unauthorized entry… please…must have rank ID present… higher…to access…2U-31C-74-X1…unknown time…

"Corrupted _and_ locked with overly strong metal keeping me from just shattering it… Great," Omega smashed the useless control panel, "There had _better_ be something good behind this door." With that letting loose a particularly colorful string of profanity, he manage to open the door with a little, okay a _lot_, of effort. He looked at what lay beyond incredulously.

"Seriously! Triple doors! Who the hell designed this place?"

Grumbling many unrepeatable things at the door he felt himself losing his temper. He concentrated his energy in his fist causing the area around it to become distorted with the white color of his overdrive. He raised his fist back and slammed it into the door with what he would have expected to be overkill even for the first door. The thing only had a (admittedly large) dent.

"Damn thing must be made of a titanium-ceramic alloy to withstand that. But that's not all I have." He briefly wondered if he should have made the elf when it took so much energy from him. He dismissed the thought abruptly and continued to repeatedly slam his charged fist into the door. After a while the door finally gave way opened in a starburst shape at the abuse, the God of destruction tumbled through with a sigh of what was probably relief at it being a room instead of just another door. Getting over it quickly, he glanced around at his surroundings.

And smiled.

The room was fairly simple. It had a couple monitors and some emergency equipment, none of which was of any interest to Omega. No what held the red being's attention the most was a stasis pod in the corner of the room. A green-hued light flashed slowly in the indication of it being in use. Judging be the stubborn doors, it was someone strong, and probably in good enough condition to act as a host

Omega slowly walked over to the pod. He reflected on these last few months, relishing the idea that he could finally return to he real world. Punching the release on the terminal a screen came up. It was apparently all too willing to follow his orders. Granted he gave it his clearance code first.

Omega snarled and put his had on the keyboard hologram that popped up, preparing to hack into the capsule. He didn't get very far before a monotone voice came from a rusted old speaker nearby.

"**Manual override accepted, option alert terminated…Begin debugging of capsulation program?**."

He smiled with a hint of mirth at the irony of the computer's mistake in his identity. He didn't say anything on it however and instead said. "Just open it."

"**WARNING! Imposed command may result in the corruption of held subject's mental systems and motor systems.**"

Omega scowled, He could do without the mental systems, but trying to operate a foreign body without it's motor systems would be nearly impossible. "What is the likelihood of corruption?"

"**Chances of complete corruption average at 98.37996%**" The voice deadpanned

Omega's scowl deepened, "That much?" He muttered.

"**Repeat?**"

The god of destruction shook his head vehemently, "No… If corrupted what are the chances of recovery?"

"**Please specify all conditions of recovery.**"

"Everything as is."

"**Please specify all conditions of recovery.**"

Omega glared at the rusty speaker, "Date of awakening: Now. Method: full reboot. Condition of held subject: as is."

The computer's AI beep a few times as it processed the information, "**Chances of recovery average at 0.37798%**"

"How long would defragging take?"

"**Estimated time is 89 hours 23 minutes.**"

"Must be pretty darn damaged…"

"**Invalid input, please repeat command.**"

"That wasn't a…" Omega scowled and shook his head irritably, "Can this time be cut down on?"

"**Yes.**"

"Specify."

"**Time can be lessened by replacement of main power source and addition of cerentanium nanites to stasis fluid."**

"Time left?"

"**Time left would approximately be 3 hours and 47 minutes.**"

"Specify procedure."

"**Nanites introducible via maintenance chamber. Primary defragging needed on computer systems 'TX' 'IM' and 'ZL'. Power system is currently running on emergency generator 06-57 backup only. Power can be replaced by transferring power input to emergency generator supplement 22-07 and regular power source 10-98.**" The computer droned the simple AI blissfully unaware of the inquirer's intentions.

Omega nodded slowly considering the information, but a thought occurred to him. On the off chance he didn't want to wake up somebody that would be completely worthless in terms of power, "State encapsulated repliod's identity."

"**Held person is entered as unspecified.**"

"Okay…"Omega scowled, "State reason of encapsulation."

"**Reason is set at a malfunction of a unique system. Encapsulation to encourage self repair.**"

Omega blinked, it couldn't be…"State date of original encapsulation."

"**Date is set at March 15, 21XX**"

"Only a week before this place was attacked. Right after the winter ice sheet melted." Omega mused. "But is it really _him_?"

Omega pulled a data file up along with the image of the map he had earlier.

The leader of Les Proies Chasseuseswas a sort of humanoid that had three elemental forms of a ice mermaid, fire centaur, or electric siren and a regular humanoid non-elemental from. Easily switching from form to form, most that battled through her advisers never got any further and were stopped cold (sometimes quite literally with her ice form).

Very few records existed of her until a talented hunter with an ability not unlike her own shape shifting challenged her and inspired her to flee in the siren form. After her retreat, nobody ever really heard of her again aside from a few commands on attacks on some labs here and. Most believed she plotted revenge against the Hunter that had initiated the decline of her group of Irregulars there and one order for a weather controlling reploid to attack HQ essentially had her motives pinned. Some believed this attack was what cause the Hunters to go after Les Proies Chasseuses.

_This is the last of those labs…_Omega thought intrigued. _All of the labs that were to be attacked were research/stasis labs. She was after something… but what? Did she find it here, or was the organization permanently disbanded before the leader got what she wanted?_

It occurred to Omega that there was no mention of a name of the leader anywhere on the records. When the maverick wars' uprisings occurred, it was obvious within hours of who was behind it, usually that baldie with the butt-chin and scars that seemed to be emphasized with nail polish or paint of some sort. But he was mostly obsessed with his own motivation in making a world for reploids. He didn't have the merciless drive of this organization's leader fueling her hatred for the hunters. She was far more direct in the methods of going after what she wanted.

So when a storm that hit the HQ of the hunters a week before the attack on this particular lab, it caught everyone off guard, as it wasn't a natural squall. One hunter in particular that got severely damaged was the one who have stopped the leader of Les Proies Chasseusesthey were in a form that got deeply damaged in the elements.

Now that he thought about it the corrupted door that he had first encountered had given him a code. Mulling it over for a moment he had to believe that it wasn't a coincidence. And it made all the effort he put into getting here worth it.

Omega chuckled, "Well I guess it's time to wake up our little copycat then."

"**Invalid input, please repeat your command.**"

He just glared at the computer.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Now if you don't know who is in there at this point then I laugh at you an tell you that you will have to wait until the next chapter till you find out for sure. I promise it won't be as long in the waiting since it is already typed up. I will post it when I feel like it.

Think about something; how bad would a computer be if you didn't even run maintenance at least once in a hundred years or so? Yikes!

Yes the cyber elf Omega made will have an important part. If you feel that I may have gone overboard with the data manipulation thing, remember that he is in cyber space. Omega also strikes me as the type to use brute force to get what he wants, so don't you complain.

Now I had a bit of something I felt was like a blooper. I was actually thinking of this when I was typing it up. What a pain it is sometime to deal with automated messaging over the phone, funny how if you say "customer service" then sometimes you actually get a PERSON to talk to. So to end this all a funny note here's what I was thinking.

Computer: **Please specify all conditions of recovery.**

Omega: Everything as is.

Computer: **Please specify all conditions of recovery.**

Omega: (glaring at the speaker) Date of awakening: Now. Method: full reboot. Condition of held subject: as is.

…

Computer:** Please specify all conditions of recovery.**

Omega: (incoherent speech)

Computer: **Please specify all conditions of recovery.**

Omega: (Yelling into the receiver) CUSTOMER SERVICE!


	8. Will to Live

Disclaimer: Sadly, none of these characters in this chapter are mine.

If you are interested, the music I listened to when originally typing this was "Beethoven Virus" It fits really nicely…

Anyway, yeah I really did have this typed up a while ago, but eheh, … Soooo, here it is! *nervous smile*

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

The cyberspacian plain's ground exploded with a force like a volcano. And Omega appeared grasping a squirming soul.

The navy black being writhed, "What the heck?"

Omega snarled, and to the reploid's soul, the sound consumed everything else, "Submit!"

"No!" Screamed the soul in the body at the invading being, "I can't! I won't!"

"Why aren't you under me yet?" snarled Omega taking his hand and pinning down the other being.

"Let me go!" The reploid shuddered and he looked at Omega out of the corner of one eye, "Zero, why are you doing this?"

Omega laughed maniacally, "That fake? Long gone."

"Zero, stop, please!"

Omega slammed the red-haired reploid to the ground they both stood on, "He's not going to help you. And I doubt he would even remember you!"

The reploid grunted and kicked at Omega, but the virus nimble back flipped landing easily on one foot, the other out behind him to keep his balance. To find the reploid body's personality in a tense crouch

The reploid leaped high, somersaulting bringing it's heel down on Omega, "You lie! Zero would never forget me."

The God of Destruction grabbed his leg with smirk that clearly stated he was enjoying this, "Why lie when telling the truth is much, much more enjoyable?" with that Omega swung around like he was throwing a discus and threw the soul. He continued in the circle blindingly fast and leapt, using the momentum to get past the reploid. Landing, he whirled around, and in that split second, snapped out a kick that gave him an almost satisfying whoosh as the soul got the wind knocked out of him.

"Then it's too bad that he already has, He nearly forgot X. What makes you think he knows who you are, Axl?" Omega calmly started walking over to the reploid, ever so slowly and stopped a few paces away.

The reploid in question rose uncertainly to his feet clutching his chest with his left arm. He spat out a mouthful of reploid blood, or something like it, before responding; "I think that because I know him better than you."

Omega nearly doubled over in laughter, "Ah, that's rich. You think you are the only one who knew him since you were created?"

Axl looked slightly uncertain through his expression of defiance. But then smiled, changing the topic "I just realized why you can't control me."

The God of Destruction sneered, "Oh really? Your mistake there—" he suddenly leapt forward and halted very briefly, his face inches away from Axl's, with one of his trademark malicious smiles "—is that I _can't_ control you."

Axl had no time to react to the speed of the demonic virus as Omega crouched, dodging the navy blue reploid's harried punch, and rolled between his legs. The demon firmly placed one hand on either side of him and snapped both armored boots in the back of a surprised Axl.

He was sent sprawling face first into the cyberspace terrain; Axl weakly turned his head desperately searching for the gleeful red demon. Before he had a chance to recover, he felt a painful pressure on the upwards side of his head causing him to cry out in pain.

Omega laughed mirthfully, "Oh, poor misinformed soul. You have been sleeping longer than that pitiful fake."

"Fake?" Axl grunted, "What are you talking abou—ahh!" He cried out as Omega stomped on his head viciously.

"Speak silence. There is no need for words unless they're a scream of agony or something of the like," The God of Destruction gave him a feral smile, "If that's the case, feel free to let it out."

_It's no good, at this rate I'm done for. Whoever this is, it's not Zero_. Axl's mind raced for an idea of any sort to get him out of this predicament. _The copy system! Why didn't I think of it before? If I can just buy enough time to defrag my DNA record files, I might have a shot at getting out of this._

"Monster." hissed Axl.

Omega gave him an even wider grin, clearly enjoying himself, "But of course, but you knew that already, didn't you?"

"What makes you think you know Zero better than I do? If anyone's the fake around here, it's you." Axl growled, while determinedly running the defragging programs. _C'mon, c'mon, hurry up! I'm in a bit of a time crunch here._

Omega frowned slightly, "Figures, That bleeding-heart never would have told you. He barely remembered why he sealed me. What a fool, trying to lock me away like that."

"I think you're just talking to yourself now, buddy," Axl quipped trying to keep this Red Demon distracted.

Omega scowled. He reached down and grasped the spiky mane of reddish-brown hair jutting out from Axl's helmet, pulling fiercely to force Axl to look at him.

Axl gave a pained laugh, "Never mind. I guess it's only talking to yourself if nobody's listening."_ Getting close, 98.6% defragged. 99.1…99.7…defragging complete._

"You think you're pretty funny don't you?" said Omega, irritably, "Jokes won't get you anywhere with me."

"Yeah, I kinda figured, but hey, there's no harm in trying right?" Axl smiled, "You know my name, but that doesn't mean you know who I am or what I can do." _Let's see, I've got Raffelsian no, bad movement unless I get hit, wait? I know I'm not gonna be able to dodge too well so he'll hit me then all I gotta to is evade… no, that won't work. I'm trying to get away. I can't take all the hits in between…What about… oh this'll work. But I need to get in the air…and I've never liked using this particular form…_

Omega returned the grin, "True, but that won't matter in a few moments. It's been ages since you've done anything, so I'm not worried about that."

Axl gave a confused look, "Huh?"

The red demon rolled his eyes, "Not the brightest of the bunch either." But then he pause when he saw Axl's smug expression, realizing something was wrong, "What do you find so funny?"

Axl shook his head cheerily, "You know it's usually not a good thing to like the sound of your own voice."

"Enough of your smart aleck replies, " Omega snarled and tightened his grip on Axl's hair, "You should think of this of your last moment..."

"…Because it is!" With a terrifying roar, the red demon whirled the navy black repliod high into the air preparing to back flip a kick Axl on his way down. But he paused in mild surprise when he saw the glow of his victim.

"So you do have an ace up your sleeve…" He mused then altered his stance chuckling at the pun, "Good, I could do with a little fun."

When the light cleared the reploid was not Axl, but rather someone like him, "Only a little? Pity, here I expected you to wonder where I got the DNA."

Omega shook his head, "Not really, you were a bounty hunter after all."

Axl blinked. _So he really thinks I'm…? Well this might work better than I had hoped for…_

"You knew?"

Omega smiled, "I know a lot more than I let on."

Does he know this is only a transformation? Oh, please let him not, if he does I'm gonna have one heck of a time getting out of this one. I can hold this form almost indefinitely… but not if I take a bunch of hits…wait, the craters…!

"Is that so?" Axl said the rich voice of the form, and then leaped up, flinging a handful of thin rectangular blades at Omega, "As much as I would like to stay and chat, I really should go."

The God of Destruction snarled, lunging as the last slim blade passed his path, but to his surprise the demon passed into nothingness. He couldn't believe it. Omega's head snapped viciously from side to side scrutinizing the cratered landscape for his ticket out. He let out an enraged scream as he saw that it had vanished.

A faint wind tousled his hair so that he looked like a nightmare.

His only viable chance…gone!

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Well, not quite, Axl was still right in front of him. Standing as still as he could to conserve the form's stealth mode. When Omega had his back turned Axl simultaneously dropped the form and activated his own stealth mode. With his own running he activated his silence thrusters hovering silently before making a mad dash for the horizon. He knew that it would create a wind, but he prayed that the demon wouldn't notice.

But in this world where he was not quite whole spirit or real, he could only wonder what he would end up doing now.

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

Author's notes:

HA! Come on! You totally had to see that one coming! So now we have my all time favorite reploid… This was late also because I went ahead an did the epilogue…

I gave my regular beta, SubZeroChimera, a break this time so she can go work on her own stories, it was read through by my sister. If I'm missing anything obvious please tell me politely.


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